North Korea has extended the run of its iconic mass games, which it revived last month to mark the country’s 70th birthday. Despite a travel ban blocking A
PYONGYANG – North Korea has extended the run of its iconic mass games, which it revived last month to mark the country’s 70th birthday.
Despite a travel ban blocking American tourists and imposing high prices for tickets for visitors from other countries, the games — which involve tens of thousands of gymnasts, dancers and flip-card-wielding crowds in the stands — appear to once again be a hit, filling Pyongyang’s 150,000-seat May Day Stadium more than a month after they resumed to end a five-year hiatus.
For the past month, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the country’s independence on Sept. 9, North Korea has been staging its latest version of the games, called “The Glorious Country.”
Performances had been expected to conclude on Oct. 10.
Ticket sales appear to be good — the stadium was nearly full on Thursday, with many Chinese and some Japanese tourists — despite a travel ban that has stopped American tourists from visiting and seats for foreigners and VIPs that begin at $110 and go up to nearly $900.
